As an environment for communication by using various kinds of terminals has been improved in the whole of society, e-commerce (electric commerce) by using EC (e-commerce) sites created by using web technology has been widely used.
These EC sites are also referred to as, for example, online shops, which serve as virtual shops on the Web. When a person selects an item in an EC site, the person can purchase the item, and then a set of procedures including personal identification, payment, and so forth are completed on a web payment system. After that, the purchased item is delivered to a designated delivery destination.
Items offered by the EC sites include, for example, “digital data” delivered online, and “tangible products or goods” such as commodities. When “digital data” is purchased, the purchased item is sent to a designated address such as an e-mail address, so that the delivery of the item is completed. Meanwhile, when “tangible product” is purchased, the item is delivered to a delivery destination via, for example, a delivery company in general. That is, a delivery process is required to deliver the purchased item to the delivery destination.
When a delivery company is used for the delivery, the delivery process is naturally performed by humans, and therefore involves costs such as a labor cost. Consequently, when an amount of delivered parcels (items) are increased, the costs for labor and equipment are increased. Moreover, when the recipient of the parcel (item) is absent at the delivery destination, it is necessary to perform additional procedures such as creating a delivery absence, and requesting redelivery.
As described above, while the e-commerce through EC sites has been widely used, it takes a lot of labor to deliver the purchased items or products, and therefore the delivery costs are increased.